Jim Steward Made History That Changed Memphis For A Lifetime

Regular radio broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry, a program of such music, began in Nashville in 1925 and have continued to the present day. Nashville's industrial development accelerated even further in the 1930s after cheap electric power became available from the Tennessee Valley Authority and from dams on the Cumberland River.

During the Civil Rights era, African Americans changed the way people looked at music by ending the segregation in the music world and by making a well-known “soundtrack” and influence during the Civil Rights Movement.

African American influence in music has been an ever present and controversial subject in American history. Stemming from many different cultures, religions and backgrounds, large portions of American music was introduced by, and credited to African Americans. Although in many cases, this music was used for entertainment by the masses or majority, contrary to popular belief, black music served a greater purpose than just recreation. Dating all the way back to the beginning of slavery in the U.S. during the 17th century, music has been used to make a statement and send a message. As African American music progressed over the years, there were common themes expressed as the genres evolved. It has been an open letter to the world, documenting and protesting the ongoing oppression faced by blacks in the United States, as well as an outlet for frustration. For many African Americans, the music gave them the only voice that couldn’t be silenced by their oppressors.

Thanks to the critically acclaimed “Muscle Shoals” documentary, music lovers are finding their way to the small town in northwest Alabama where some of the world’s greatest hits were recorded. This was the very town where, at Rick Hall’s FAME Studios and the rival Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Aretha Franklin found her groove, Paul Simon developed “Kodachrome” and Wilson Pickett cranked up “Mustang Sally.”

Berry Gordy was a visionary, entrepreneur and a teacher to become one of the, if not the most talented music producers of all time. Gordy paved the way for all African American producers and musicians to make history by being the first African American owned record label to reach national acclaim. Gordy fist recording studio was made from a converted garage with the control room from the kitchen in his home. His first artist was signed in 1959 with the Miracles, and first Billboard’s song was “That’s What I Want” which reach #2. Within that year Gordy sign the girl group the Marvelettes and reach No1 on the pop list. Then three years later he signed two more group the Supremets and Temptations that gave him five more No. 1 hits. By the late 1960’s Motown had five records on the Billboard charts.

Memphis, Tennessee is listed in the top five most violent cities in America. Memphis’ homicide rate is close to two hundred and we have one more month to go before the end of 2016.

Many other African-Americans started to cross-over to the white market. They wanted to appeal to the white audience. Many black Rock ‘N’ Rolls went for a sweeter sound, better looks, and soothing lyrics. They would dress up in tuxedos and sing ballads. As it breaks down barriers it was opening doors for African-American artist and

expanding, sharing it’s enthusiasm throughout the world. The evolution of jazz aroused the curiosity of the nation. As Blacks received their freedom, they were able to

Robert Altman’s movie Nashville is based on the political, social, and personal problems that our country has to deal with. These problems are rooted in the battle between the need to create some false image of success and the need for truth which is the struggle that exists in every character of this film (except Jeff Goldbloom). To show this Robert Altman takes us through Nashville’s Country Music using political commentary, music and realistically portrayed dialogue to tell the story.

In 1951, Alan Freed, a European American disc jockey for a Cleveland radio station, first coined the term rock’n roll. Fifty years later, if you were to poll the general public on which race would dominate that genre of music, the response would be overwhelmingly whites. But rock’n roll is not a white mans music. African American’s were and still are an essential cornerstone of the genre known as rock’n roll. But rock’n roll simply would not exist if it weren't for African Americans. Their presence is felt in almost every genre of music known to the United States. Early twentieth century black musicians helped shape, influence and create my favorite genre of music today.

Do you see any of us running any record companies, booking agencies, radio stations, music magazines?” (quoted in Laver, 2015) A lot of money was to to be made in the jazz industry and white musicians earned a lot of commission through the exploitation of black jazz musicians. For many black musicians the only way to “make it” in the industry was to be employed by white musicians who would go on take advantage of their talent, leading to

Additionally, many black singers were exploited by record producers with the use of white “cover” artists in order to hide black singers from white audiences. White producers would select a white singer to perform songs by a black artist but without the provocative dancing or emotive moaning. This method of “bleaching” (51) appeased white segregationists because white producers were still able to make money from their songs and black artists were hidden from the audience. This allowed for white teens to begin

The foundations of today’s popular music were built by an unlikely source: a poor white

The broadcasting and recording industries did not solely represent the conquering racial assumptions of the 1950's, they internalized them and helped to continue them. Racial conventions permeated the organization and structure of the music industry at every level. The very existence

Emerging out of the turbulent civil rights period in the United States, the majority of the black minority population finally found a means by which to express their voice to the world through music. This movement stemmed from two extremely different music studios located in opposite regions of the United States. One of these companies arose out of the north, which very rigidly rigidly controlled their product and polished young talent to fit an agenda. In contrast, its opposing studio began in the deep south and was raw, unrestricted, as well as organic, choosing to let any artist play regardless of who they were or how they performed. Together, these music production studios helped break down the racial segregation of black and white music, although they went about it in polar opposite ways.